One Shot of Vodka
by mightymax
Summary: In Midgar, Tifa meets an unexpected Turk.


A small light glowed, flickered a white blaze as a creamy old, Jazz tune circulated through the confines of the small rectangular room. The floor jostled back and forth as the room moved up on a signal metal cord away from gravity.

A young brunette in a floral, white dress stood silently, staring as the numbered lights as they slowly blinked off and on. Her nose was wet and sticky from breathing too hard and her mouth was slightly ajar like a small goldfish spitting air. Wiping the beads of sweat with the back of her gloved hand, she remembered Biggs's advice as he pressed his knuckles against her cheek and pointed a finger to her nose. He told her then that the only way to make it through Shinra is to smile a god damn, wide smile like someone stapled your lips to your cheek bones.

She stretched her lips with her fingers in a frightening clown grin. She sighed dropping to the floor. It was hopeless. She could hardly stop sweating, and Wedge expected her to infiltrate into Shrina's executive head quarters and steal documents, which were as tightly secured as the gold hair on Rufus Shinra's dry scalp.

Instinctively, she tightened her gloved hand at the thought of Rufus Shinra.

"I rather be fighting….," she said quietly, staring at the unnatural cotton dress Jess draped on her in the morning.

A round circular number five glowed above the door. The bright color reminded her of the orange of a fire. She shut her eyes tightly, her fingers unconsciously inching toward her chest.

The elevator door opened.

With the sudden movement of the door, she straightened her spine, unable to hide the expression of astonishment inscribed in her features. Her face turned white with a tint of sickly yellow from the lights. She felt something hard rise from her chest, something she had been hiding since the first time she had come to Midgar.

A bald man in a blue suit walked onto the elevator, pressing a desired number while turning his face away from the girl.

A loud, cracking noise resonated in the gears deep inside the machine. On cue, the lights flashed darkly in chorus with the broken engine sound, which came to a sudden finale with the darkness.

She felt herself falling, but a hand held her shoulder tightly until the floors no longer shook and the gears no longer screeched like fingernails dragging against a chalkboard.

At times, silence can be painful to the ears. There in a little black box, she felt the weight of her thoughts crush into her skulls. There was only one way to keep her head from imploding. Speak.

"Should we call someone," she quietly offered into the darkness.

"No," the man said blandly.

"Oh," she bit her lip. " How will they know we're in here?"

The man shook his head, as though he was explaining the obvious. He extended his fingers to the small cameras in the corner of elevators.

"Shinra knows this elevator is stuck. The cameras went out, so they'll fix this elevator in two hours. Maybe…" he said haltingly, unaccustomed to speaking long sentences at a time.

She nodded.

Silence.

"What is your name?" she asked, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Rude," he said slowly, rolling the _R_ sound.

Rude pulled out a light, flicking it on and off, revealing a dim outline of his face.

"Name?" Rude repeated.

"Huh,"

"Name?"

She turned red, "Oh its Tifa."

"Tifa," he repeated softly, leaning his head against the floor and stretching his right leg to the door.

From the lighter, Tifa discerned Rude's face. The skin was smooth around his cheekbones and there were traces of hair around his chin.

"You're a boy," she whispered, almost surprised from the discovery.

Rude shrugged, turning away from her.

"How old are you?" she asked

"Eighteen,"

Two years older than her, she thought.

"You're a T.." she stopped, her words lost.

"-urk," he completed, massaging his forehead with the tips of his fingernails.

He turned his head, moving his lighter closer to Tifa's chest. Tifa grabbed his arm with her gloved hand ready to snap it when her nametag was illuminated.

"A secretary?" he gave a wry grin rather surprised.

"I'm sorry for hurting you," Tifa blushed.

Rude grinned.

"Don't worry, you didn't hurt me, kid," he smiled gently.

"You're only two years older than me," she snapped.

"Kid," he repeated emphatically.

"You are so rude," she distorted her face, sticking out her tongue at him in the darkness.

"I know,"

Tifa felt a detestable, hot feeling rise in her stomach, burn like a fire she saw long ago.

"I hate Shinra," she seethed quietly, wordlessly with her tongue.

"Secretary," Rude said, mulling an idea in his head. "I don't picture you as one."

"Well, it must be hard to see anything under those sunglasses," she remarked, leaning closer to Rude. "Why do you wear glasses when it is dark?"

Tifa pulled strands of chocolate hair behind her ear as an awkward silence covered every corner of the square room.

Rude pulled himself from the ground, turning his face to Tifa.

"It's my disguise," he said, adjusting his sunglasses closer to his eyes.

She stared at her gloves and smiled, a hard smile.

A flash of light blanketed the room, blinding at first and slowly faded into a red shade. Sirens were blaring, a long piercing noise that was sharp as needlepoints.

The door opened.

Rude grabbed Tifa, his mouth close to her ear.

"Go left and then keep going straight," he quickly mumbled, gently pushing her in the direction.

On a right side, a barrage of security guards officers, holding plexi glass windows organized next to Rude.

A red haired man with a blue suit caught sight of the brunette girl as he jogged toward Rude.

Rude winced, rubbing his head as he felt a sudden shock surge down the back of his spine.

"Damn Rude, you are my fucking hero," he said with a devilish grin, turning at the distant brunette and then back to Rude.

Rude stood silently with a blank expression on his face.

"Rude, man, damn I never thought you would do something like this, getting stuck in an elevator intentionally…I should try that sometime," he said, placing an arm around Rude's shoulder. "You know there was a tip this morning of an Avalanche infiltration."

A security guard with a thick black mustache approached Rude, "Do you have any ideas of what Avalanche might have planned?"

Rude placed two fingers on his chin, tilting his head. "I would say we should start in the basement because that is the most accessible place to enter. Especially, in the north end, there are two windows there. They might have caused some sort of explosion causing the elevators to stop…"

Rude paused, breathing. There were too many words to say at one time.

"Off to the elevators," the red head shouted, stretching his hand playfully like a lieutenant.

The group of security guard filed down the staircase.

"Reno…" Rude smiled, turning his head behind him where a girl once walked.

"Uh huh?"

"Let's get a drink,"

"I know the perfect place,"

Author's note: This may be a one-shot or a multi chapter fic. At the moment, I'm not sure. This was a random drabble that came to mind and I just wrote something and here it is. Thanks for reading mates.


End file.
